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Port congestion in mainland China continued to remain
high with extended lockdown measures
As COVID-19 lockdown measures were extended from Shanghai to
more Chinese cities including parts of Beijing, port congestion
rebounded in northern Chinese ports. Moreover, many vessels are
trying to find alternative ports since social restrictions in major
cities in east China including Shanghai are expected to continue
into early May. This will likely increase congestion in southern
ports as well.
According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, total
congestion levels at Shanghai's port has increased by about 30-40%
since the start of March 2022, but it is still lower than the peak
of last year over the third quarter. Since the manufacturing sector
in mainland China has also been affected because of the lockdowns
and labor shortage, Chinese import and export growth has been
reduced from levels a year-ago. According to S&P Global Market
intelligence AIS data, vessel capacity arrivals into Chinese ports
to load or discharge cargo have decreased by 11% to about 1.15
billion deadweight in the first quarter of 2022 from about 1.28
billion deadweight from the first quarter 2021.
Since mainland China is exporting less container-related cargo
with lockdown measures, freight rates for containers and small
bulkers have been softening. High demand for exports in mainland
China, along with tight container capacity was affecting general
bulk cargo flow with de-containerized trends. Some general cargo
that was typically shipped in container box including steel,
aluminum, fertilizer, bagged cargo etc. have been shipped on
general cargo ships and small geared bulk vessels.
Also, lesser export volume from mainland China eased congestion
on discharging ports including U.S. container ports. However, once
COVID-19-related lockdown is lifted in mainland China along with
seasonal recovery of shipments, the impact may pose another upside
risk on port congestion and the discharging ports side over the
coming peak season.
Posted 27 April 2022 by Daejin Lee, Lead Shipping Analyst, Associate Director, Maritime & Trade, IHS Markit
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
